


Disclosure

by Zoisite Ruby (andadobeslabs)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Gen, Growing Up, Light Angst, Marriage Proposal, Platonic Cuddling, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 03:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12050643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andadobeslabs/pseuds/Zoisite%20Ruby
Summary: After no communication for months, Alisaie asks Alphinaud for advice.





	Disclosure

**Author's Note:**

> I seriously felt the need to write something fluffy. Again, the twins are 19/20 here.

Once the initial panic at having someone join him in his bed has passed, Alphinaud sighs. “You’re lucky my grimoire is on the other side of the room, Alisaie. Or you'd be feeling the wrath of my carbuncle right now.” She chuckles and wraps her arms around him, pulling him in tighter. They used to do this as kids, even as teenagers, whenever either of them had a nightmare or couldn’t sleep. He could tell something was wrong, despite the fact that they hadn’t seen each other in moons he could still somewhat read her.

“Is there a reason for this visit?” He asks, equally concerned and annoyed, and she nods.

“I need your advice.” She mumbles, and he turns around to look at her. Once his eyes adjust to the dark, he can tell that she’s been crying, but she also doesn’t necessarily look sad.

“Are you going to explain what happened or am I supposed to guess it?”

“I was the subject of an… interesting proposition, earlier.” She starts, and he decides that it’s possible he doesn’t want to be having this conversation.

“Dare I ask what said proposition entails?”

“My betrothal.”

He clears his throat at this, taken off guard. “Who would even ask you such a thing? What did you say?”

She ignores his first question indignantly, annoyed that he does not see her as fit to be wed, and instead answers the second. “That I would think about it. Then I came here."

He flips back onto his right side, where he had been before she joined him. “Were you expecting this at all?”

“On some level.” She admits, but he can feel her shake her head. “We are quite enamored with each other, but he has hesitated in the past. Fear of what mother and father would think, primarily.”

So she had been with someone, and he hadn’t even noticed. He supposed they had seen a lot less of each other recently, but he assumed that was a result of him staying in the Rising Stones and her living at the Waking Sands. Both of them had been busy with their responsibilities. “Not that you’ve ever cared much about what our family has to say.” He observes fondly, trying to lighten the mood.

“That's what I told him.” She sighs, and Alphinaud realizes that she’s changed since they’d last seen each other. She dressed differently, spoke differently, carried herself differently. An air of realization washes over him.

“You love him.” He observes, and she hesitates, nodding.

Her cheeks warm, “I don’t suppose it’s that obvious.”

“Maybe not to someone who knows you less well than I.”

“Krile figured it out, and Thancred.” She admits, and he’s a little annoyed by that. Neither of them had bothered to tell him about such an important development in his sister’s life? He saw Krile on a nearly daily basis! They must have been keeping her secret from him on purpose.

“So it’s someone I know.” He infers, thinking to the people she’s been around lately. “And someone who knows of and minds our family’s status, though I suppose that’s all of Eorzea.” He reasons aloud, she raises her eyebrow at his conclusions, though he can’t see her anyway.

“Are you going to attempt to guess?” She asks, teasing in her voice. “It’s not like I can keep it a secret for much longer if I accept.”

His first thought had been Thancred, seeing as how he also lived at the Waking Sands with her, but she mentioned that he had figured it out, implying that it was not he with whom she was taken. But maybe that was the correct train of thought. She had been living at the Waking Sands, with Thancred, Y’shtola…

“Oh Alisaie,” He starts, realization dawning on him again. “It’s not-“ She nods, knowing he’s figured it out. “He’s practically family.”

“To you, maybe.” She justifies, crossing her arms. “He has always seen me as separate from our house.” It makes sense, in hindsight. Urianger was obviously fond of her, and she of him, though Alphinaud had never really considered it anything romantic.

“He was right, Mother and Father will be very unhappy about this.” He laughs, thinking of their reaction. Despite the fact that his age was an enigma, as with the rest of the Scions who artificially kept themselves young, Urianger was at least a dozen summers older than Alisaie. Not to mention that he had pledged himself to their house, well before Lousioux sacrificed himself for the realm. Fourchenault would surely feel betrayed, at least for a while.

“It’s irrelevant to me.” She dismisses the concern. “Plus they’ll be a much more upset if I end up unwed with a child.” She snickers, “Which is becoming increasingly likely, given our enthusiasm.”

Alphinaud sighs in annoyance at her shamelessness, “I could have lived without that information, thank you.” He returns to the problem at hand, though, “So why do you hesitate?”

“I love Urianger, I do.” She explains, “I would love nothing more than to be with him ’til death do we part.”

Alphinaud cringes at the wording, not sure that 'lovesick maiden' is a flattering on his sister. “But?”

“I’m worried about my independence.” She confesses, and it makes more sense to the both of them now what her real worry was. “Not in the romantic sense, I have no interest in other partners, but I’m becoming quite competent in combat, and there’s still so much of the realm I wish to see.”

“You do not wish to play the part of the doting housewife.”

“Exactly!”

“Do you think that our friend would be in love with you had you wished such a thing?” He suggests genuinely, and she ponders that for a moment.

“I suppose not.” She smiles guiltily. “I’m not sure where this anxiety even came from.”

“Our upbringing.” Alphinaud explains, “It’s always been expected of you to take on such a role. While the realm has largely humored us in our desire to save Eorzea, there’s always been an expectation that we’d return to Sharlayan and marry nobles and continue on the family line.”

She chuckles at this, “I guess that’s a lot of pressure on you, now.”

“Why is that?”

“When our parents disown me for becoming an Augurelt, you’ll be their last hope.” The certainty in her voice conflicts him, not because he’s worried for himself but her. It is unlikely they’ll explicitly disown her, though resenting her is a genuine possibility.

“So you’ve decided then.” He asserts and she breaths deeply.

“At the very least, I have more questions to ask Urianger.” She admits, her entire demeanor shifting to one more hopeful, maybe even excited. “I’ll tell you how it goes.”

He smiles at this, missing their near constant communication. He misses their bond, how they could predict each other's thoughts and actions without words. Even though her house would change on paper, he hopes he still hears from her often. More often than he had been lately, at least.

“Good luck, and also please _do_ hesitate to wake me so late next time.” She rolls her eyes at this, stretching and then standing.

He watches her leave, knowing that this very well may have been their last conversation as the Leveilleur twins, at least in name. Their adulthood was weighing on him. Despite his shock at the fact that his sister was considering marrying, it’s not as if it would be that out of place for her age. Nor would it be for Alphinaud, had he made any attempt to court anyone.

He had thought himself the more likable of the two of them. Perhaps he had been wrong.


End file.
